ClimateWire has a piece out today, “D.C.’s top lawyer could launch Exxon battle soon”.
In it, Bloomberg- and CREW-underwritten activist AG for the District of Columbia Karl Racine hints, “”look out for developments in the fall” on a highly anticipated legal challenge by the nation’s capital against Exxon Mobil Corp. and other leading fossil fuel firms.”
CLW Readers may recall “Documents Reveal DC AG’s Bloomberg-hired “Climate” Prosecutor was also a Bloomberg-Referred “Climate” Prosecutor”, and “Was the Bloomberg-DC SAAG an illegal ‘hire’?” (Spoiler Alert: Yes).
Energy Policy Advocates then learned how Racine got in deeper, with a CREW-funded climate attorney who insists he’s really placed in the office at donor expense to pursue emoluments litigation against Trump administration officials: “FOIA DOC SHOCK: New Army of Activist-Group Attorneys Revealed, Escalation of AGs/Donor Involvement”.
CLW suggests Racine intends to try and help and be helped by the news cycle surrounding the upcoming New York v. ExxonMobil trial kicking off October 22. Though the new climate Holy Grail of “attribution” isn’t actually the focus of that trial, expect three weeks-plus of media hysteria blaming man (and mostly energy companies) for severe weather events.
Several media outlets are in the process of helping out with “attribution” stories, which you should see published soon.
CLW has learned of the concentrated effort to enhance “attribution” claims, to make it appear less incredible when plaintiffs try to pin events on not only man but individual companies. This weakness was internally acknowledged early in the climate litigation industry as a major impediment to helping out the tort bar’s call for “a single sympathetic attorney general” to begin investigating and filing suit against energy companies.
“Attribution” efforts stepped up in earnest after a certain activist group recruited more AGs on the heels of New York issuing its first, requested subpoena.
As CLW will report further, soon, “attribution” was the focus of a conference this weekend in Scotland which US lawyers joined the discussion.
If the October timeline slips, expect Racine to make this his offering in the plate ritually passed around during Republican administrations when Kyoto II/Paris treaty talks kick off, this year scheduled for December 2 -13.
CLW has obtained numerous, often eye-opening records further illuminating and properly framing the imminent litigation blitz for what it is, and will lay them out in coming weeks.